Bible Prophecy Shows the Papacy & Russia will join-forces to Conquer the World

Bible Prophecy Shows the Papacy & Russia will join-forces to Conquer the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oydZ2ZSOgBQ

ECONOMIC ISOLATION . . . ' TRIGGER ' FOR RUSSIA'S COMING MID-EAST INVASION !!!

ECONOMIC ISOLATION . . . ' TRIGGER ' FOR RUSSIA'S COMING MID-EAST INVASION !!!
Why is Vladimir Putin so unrepentant ?!?  Since invading Crimea , Russia's stock markets ,  the ' Rouble '  &  foreign investment have been hammered , weakening an already fragile economy.  International sanctions layered on top  &  suspension from the G8 have only drawn ridicule  &  scorn from Putin.  So , as Russia faces increasing isolation  &  potential economic disaster , how is it Vladimir Putin remains so unbowed & defiant ??  Putin devised his plans long ago  to return Russia to a ' military super-power ' announcing in 2012 a $772 Billion expansion of Russia's military ( incl. 2,300 tanks & 78 new warships ) .  Now in 2014 ,  sensing Western weakness , Russia is aggressively reclaiming its former Soviet territories . . . but It will ' not end ' with the Baltic states !!  Bible Prophecy 2,500 yrs ago foretold  ' economic necessity '  will be the hook that  God Himself  will use to drag Russia into the Middle East to invade  &  plunder the riches of many nations , most notably  Egypt  &  Israel.  The end of  all things  is nigh at hand.

Ezek 38v3-8  -  Behold , I am against thee O Gog , chief prince of Meshech & Tubal :  I will turn thee back  &  put hooks into thy jaws  &  I will bring thee forth  &  all thine army ... even a great company , all of them handling swords , all of them with shield & helmet

Dan 11v40-43 - At the time of the end ... he shall enter into the countries  &  shall overflow & pass over.  He shall enter also into the glorious land ( Israel )  &  many countries shall be overthrown.  He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries  &  the land of Egypt shall not escape.  But he shall have power over the treasures of gold & of silver  &  over all the precious things of Egypt

Western leaders fear more Russian expansion

Western leaders fear more Russian expansion 

Vatican Radio 23-Mar-14 

Western leaders have expressed concern that Russia may move into other regions after it annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, where at least one person was injured this weekend in a Russian takeover of two Ukrainian bases. NATO and German officials said Sunday the conflict could expand to eastern parts of Ukraine, and even the nearby former Soviet republic of Moldova. 

The top commander of the NATO military alliance warned on Sunday that Russia wants more than just Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. 

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, said he was worried about a large Russian force on Ukraine's eastern border. "The (Russian) force that is at the Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very sizeable and very, very ready," Breedlove said. 

Breedlove warned those troops pose a threat to Moldova's mainly Russian-speaking separatist Transdniiestria region. 

RAPID INCURSIONS 

He told a Brussels meeting of the German Marshall Fund think-tank that recent military exercises involving 8.500 artillery men, were aimed at preparing Russian troops for possible rapid incursions into a neighboring state. 

The president of ex-Soviet Moldova warned Russia last Tuesday against considering any move to annex Transdniestria, which lies on Ukraine's western border, in the same way that it has taken control of Crimea. 

Besides Moldova, officials in eastern regions of Ukraine also fear a similar Russian take-over as in Crimea, explained German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier who visited the Ukrainian city of Donetsk. 

“We have heard very clearly today the very strong wish, that the new Ukraine should be a united Ukraine and there should be no break up,” he said, adding that there should be no new divisions in post-Communist Europe. 

Steinmeier said 400 observers from the OSCE would soon arrive in the region to monitor the situation, following recent political violence. 

MILITARY ACTION 

Yet, Moscow's ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said "nobody has anything to fear" from Russia. 

However he did not completely rule out Russian military actions elsewhere in the region, suggesting only his country had no intention to invade other areas. 

"I am not the commander-in-chief," he said. "The situation in Ukraine is of course a source of concern to everybody including Russia. And we certainly hope it to be settled by peaceful me3ans taking into account the legitimate interests of all people living in Ukraine, all the ethnic groups, and all the regions of Ukraine and we are ready to help," the official stressed. 

His remarks did little to ease concerns in neighboring countries. 

Adding to their worries was Sunday's announcement by Russia that its flag is now flying over 189 Ukrainian military installations in Crimea, after President Vladimir Putin signed laws completing Russia's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula. 

Crimea annexation frightens Patriarch of Moscow

Crimea annexation frightens Patriarch of Moscow 

Asia News 21-Mar-14 

Kirill not present for Putin's great speech to the Duma. While Russia follows in the footsteps of the empire of Ivan the Terrible, the Orthodox Churches of Ukraine are pushed towards autonomy by Moscow. The Moscow Patriarchate risks being a minority in the next pan-Orthodox Council. 

When last March 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the federal parliament in impassioned defense of Great Russia, to justify the annexation of the Crimea, the expressions on the faces of the front rows of the assembly betrayed an unusual concern. Amid the Imam's turban and the rabbi's hat, the absence of Patriarch Kirill's white tiara. Two rows behind the veiled miter of his vicar, the elderly Metropolitan Juvenalij, nodded uncertainly. He was sent to represent the Patriarchal Church, whose blessing was essential to confirm the necessary re-appropriation of the "holy land" of the Crimea. 

Kirill's absence was justified by his spokesman with uncertain references to his state of health (but the day before he had regularly presided over a long celebration) and the devout silence of Lent (but this should also apply to Juvenalij) . In reality, the absence of Kirill's blessing demonstrates the extreme embarrassment of the Moscow Patriarchate over the Ukrainian crisis, which threatens to upset even the structure of the same ecclesiastical institutions, and obliterate the enlargement projects pursued with great tenacity by Kirill himself in recent years. It seems that Putin has gone too far for his spiritual fathers. 

Kirill does not lack in patriotism, rather he has been its primary protagonist and custodian: since the time of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, the then Metropolitan Kirill Gundjaev always stood out as the main inspiration for a new post-Soviet state ideology, based on the restoration of the ideal of Holy Russia, seen as a Church-State capable of affirming itself at home and abroad as a great defender of Christian values ​​in a secular world. Kirill is the very expression of the model first proposed by the monk Joseph of Volokolamsk who in 1500 created the idea of the "State constituted by the Church", one of the favorite expressions of the current patriarch, realized by Tsar Ivan the Terrible , the true figure of reference of his current successor Vladimir Putin. Yet today, when 95 % of the Crimean Russians enthusiastically approve the return to Mother Russia, and the vast majority of Russians are proud to show even through force that the country opposes the corrupt intentions of the West, the patriarch withdraws within an ascetic in silence. 

The fact is that Kirill had gambled everything on Ukraine, and certainly not on the tiny Crimea or on some eastern province thereof. In the five years since his election, the patriarch has visited the country at least 30 times, going everywhere, even the most Western and anti-Russian dioceses, which his predecessor Alexy II was afraid to visit The head of the Ukrainian section of the Patriarchate, Metropolitan Vladimir Sabodan of Kiev , was included by Kirill within the Synod of Bishops in Moscow, the true governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church, with a title of honor almost equal to his own, and he had co-opted other members of the Ukrainian jurisdiction , seen as a quasi-autonomous Church, but well within the structure of the Moscow Patriarchate . 

And now what will happen? Will a Church independent from Moscow be created? And what to do with the diocese of Crimea, now Russian on a civil level: will it pass directly under the Moscow Patriarchate? And what if Kiev does not agree? 

This prospect terrifies Kirill more than one can imagine. On an ecclesiastical level Ukraine counts for little less than half of the parishes subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate (13 thousand as opposed to 15 thousand Russian), and about 60% of the clergy is from Ukraine, including many bishops active in Russia itself. Aspirations for autonomy have grown in recent years in Ukraine, which desires complete autocephaly and independence from Moscow.  Moreover, the seat of Kiev is historically the original one, from which Moscow separated only in 1589. Currently, the Metropolitan of Kiev Vladimir Sabodan, almost eighty years old, is in bad health, and Kirill is raising some heartfelt prayers that the Lord preserve him for as long as possible: the election of a new Metropolitan right now would certainly be accompanied by strong demands for autonomy . The Vladimir's vicar, Metropolitan Onufrij Berezovsky, originally pro-Russian, has increasingly been drawn towards the defense of the integrity of the Ukrainian state and its independent church, and the other bishops are even more explicit in this regard. The Moscow Church of obedience is beginning to appear to Ukrainians as the "Church occupier", which could lend renewed authority to the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Patriarch Filaret Denisenko, which may be greatly diminished, but is still large . Not to mention the extreme push for autonomy of the Greek - catholic Church led by Archbishop Sviatoslav Sevchuk , which has its stronghold in western Ukraine and which was the greatest supporter of the Majdan protests and the revolution taking place in Kiev. 

Kirill is also afraid of losing his dominant position over the entire Orthodox communion, which in 2016 will meet at the Phanar for the great pan-Orthodox Council, the first in the entire history of Orthodoxy. Currently Moscow accounts for 70% of all Orthodox in the world. If its jurisdiction was halved, it might end up in the minority, and have the great success of the convocation of the Council of Constantinople come back to haunt it. This, in fact, may become the grave of Russian ambitions to lead the Christian world in opposition to (or at least on par) with the Pope of Rome. The great Russia, in annexing the small Crimea, instead of expanding will ultimately become smaller and smaller. 

Mansour: The Gulf's national security is one of Egypt's priorities

:Mansour: The Gulf's national security is one of Egypt's priorities 

Ahram Online 21-Mar-14 

President Adly Mansour told Kuwaiti journalists that Egypt is fighting a war on terrorism on behalf of the whole region 

Interim President Adly Mansour said that the security of Gulf area is one of Egypt's national security priorities, and that Egypt was fighting the war on terrorism on behalf of the Middle East region. 

In an interview which was published on Friday in Kuwait Al-Rai newspaper, Mansour said that life in Egypt would not stop because of “desperate terrorist attacks”. 

"Egypt is in a war against terrorism on behalf of the whole region," he was quoted as saying. 

Since the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi last July, Egyptian security forces have been targeted by militant attacks that have left hundreds dead. 

The interim president said that Egypt was going to call on Arab countries to activate the Arab counter-terrorism agreement at the upcoming Arab summit, which is to be held on 25 March in Kuwait. 

Countries that sign the agreement commit to not allowing their territory be used for planning or committing terrorist acts, and to block the funding or training of terrorist groups. 

Addressing the presidential election, Mansour said that the presidential elections committee was going to declare the date within the next few days. 

Answering a question about the Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam, currently under construction on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia, Mansour said the project was a “great challenge.” 

"The problem of the Renaissance Dam is that some countries want to have big projects without consultation. This is a dangerous matter as they neglect the interest of other countries like Egypt," he said. 

On 1 March, the Ethiopian government announced that 32 percent of construction had been completed, ignoring Egyptian pleas to halt the project until an agreement is struck between the two countries. 

The president also stressed that Egypt was standing with the Syrian people in their daily suffering as well their aspiration towards change, freedom and democracy. 

"There will be no military solution to the Syrian crisis and as long as both sides think that they are capable … more destruction will be caused," he said. 

Discussing relations with the Palestinians, the interim president said Egypt was supporting Mahmoud Abbas in his quest for an independent Palestinian state. 

"The Hamas movement made mistakes supporting a political group regarded by the Egyptian people as terrorists," he said, a reference to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood which was declared a terrorist organisation by the Egyptian government in December. 

Mansour added that the Palestinain Islamic movement in Gaza should “stop interfering” in Egyptian internal affairs and should respect the choices of Egyptian people. 

A Cairo court temporarily suspended Hamas’ activities in Egypt in March and ordered the closure of its headquarters in the country following lawsuit that accused the Palestinian movement's leaders of being involved in violence in Egypt since the 25 January revolution. 

Mansour received a delegation of Kuwaiti journalists on Thursday at the presidential palace in Cairo. 

Report: Russian Orthodox move to seize other churches in Crimea

Report: Russian Orthodox move to seize other churches in Crimea 

Catholic World News  21-Mar-14

Russian Orthodox priests, accompanied by armed men, have attempted to seize two Crimean churches belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, according to a Moscow Times report. 

Established in 1992, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate is led by Patriarch Filaret, who has been excommunicated by the Russian church. 

“Today the seizure of places of worship in Crimea is being triggered by Russia,” said Yevhen Nyshchuk, Ukraine’s minister of culture, according to a report from the Religious Information Service of Ukraine. 

Turkey: Courts Block Twitter

Turkey: Courts Block Twitter 

Stratfor 21-Mar-14 

Turkish courts have blocked access to Twitter in the days leading up to elections as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to battle a corruption scandal, Reuters reported March 21. In the hours leading up to the ban, Erdogan said he would wipe out Twitter, where criticism of Erdogan had been widespread. The elements are in place for demonstrations to swell and persist through the elections. 

Crimea Joins the East While Ukraine Looks West

Crimea Joins the East While Ukraine Looks West 

Stratfor 20-Mar-14 

Two major events in the unfolding Ukraine crisis will occur Friday. First, Russia's Federation Council will ratify a treaty with Crimea concluding Russia's formal annexation of the territory. Second, Ukraine will sign the political chapters of an association agreement with the European Union. 

Both events show just how much the standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine has escalated, leading the country to split in two. They also make the future uncertain for what is left of Ukraine. The government in Kiev is sure to face greater pressure from Russia while not being clear on exactly what to expect from the West. 

In practical terms, Ukraine's inking of the political parts of the association agreement changes little, with the complete signing of the EU agreements not scheduled until sometime later in the year. But the symbolism of the act is huge. After all, the Ukrainian crisis began when former President Viktor Yanukovich rejected the association and free trade agreements in the lead-up to the Nov. 29-30 Eastern Partnership summit over the issue. This led to protests against the decision from pro-EU demonstrators that eventually expanded to general anti-government rallies, culminating in Yanukovich's ouster on Feb. 22. 

An interim government under former opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk replaced the Yanukovich regime. One of the main priorities of the new government has been to reverse the decision to suspend the agreements with the European Union. Now, less than a month after Yanukovich's ouster, the first formal step toward concluding these deals is being taken. 

While this is a cause for celebration in Kiev and among the government's pro-Western supporters, Russia sees it as a major affront. Moscow adamantly opposed the Western-backed uprising against Yanukovich and has firmly expressed its view that the new government in Kiev is illegitimate. Russian actions in Crimea came in response to the events in Kiev, with Moscow framing its steps as completely legitimate given how the new government in Ukraine took power and allegedly threatened the rights of ethnic Russians. 

Still, Russian opposition has not persuaded the Ukrainian government to stop its integration efforts with the West, as the expected signing Friday shows. But Russia's intervention in Crimea is not the only response to be expected from Moscow. Just as it worked to dissuade Yanukovich from following through with the EU deals by enacting painful trade restrictions on Ukrainian goods, Russia is again showing that a blockade of Ukrainian exports to Russia could be forthcoming. Russia briefly barred Ukrainian trucks from entering Russian territory at certain border crossings overnight on Thursday, though by the afternoon it had started letting them in again. This move was likely meant as a warning of things to come. 

The new government in Kiev probably will not reverse its pursuit of EU integration, something it has specifically cited it has a mandate to continue. But while Kiev's commitment to integration may not be in question, the West's commitment to Ukraine is. 

So far, Western willingness to back the new government in Ukraine has not been convincing. Russia's military incursions into Crimea have gone without a significant response, but that can be expected given that Ukraine is not a member of NATO. U.S. and EU sanctions have been levied against Russia but so far have not deterred Putin. And while the West has pledged to offer concrete financial assistance to economically beleaguered Ukraine, very little has actually been transferred -- and the larger sums pledged have come with painful austerity conditions attached. 

Kiev has in principle accepted even these conditions, given that Ukraine needs the West more than ever. As the government proceeds with its EU integration efforts, this will necessarily incur greater economic costs from Russia. Moscow will also seek to destabilize the country via other methods, including by raising natural gas prices and stirring up ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine. 

Weathering such moves will require tremendous Western support, both economic and political. While the European Union and the United States have demonstrated their ability to help a pro-Western government rise to power in Ukraine, they have yet to demonstrate an ability or willingness to sustain such a government and bring it firmly into the Western fold. The question of the West's commitment may therefore be just as worrisome to the new Ukrainian government as the certainty of Russian retaliation. 

Russia: Sovereign Credit Rating Turns Negative

Russia: Sovereign Credit Rating Turns Negative 

Stratfor 20-Mar-14 

Standard & Poor's financial services company has downgraded Russia's credit rating from stable to negative, Itar-Tass reported March 20. The company made its decision based on heightened geopolitical risk and the threat of economic sanctions following Russia's move to assimilate Crimea. However, there is little Washington can sanction that would affect Moscow significantly unless the White House takes the drastic and unlikely step of banning U.S. firms from working with or in Russia. 

Ukraine says it is preparing to leave Crimea

Ukraine says it is preparing to leave Crimea 

Washington Post 20-Mar-14 

Ukraine prepared to evacuate its troops and their families from Crimea on Wednesday as Russia forced the Ukrainians to abandon several military bases and facilities on the peninsula, including their navy headquarters. 

Ukraine said it would seek U.N. support in declaring Crimea a demilitarized zone so that its troops could be relocated to Ukraine proper, effectively acknowledging that it had lost the region despite vows it would never cede to Russia. 

In the announcement, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Andriy Parubiy, said his country would hold joint military exercises with the United States and Britain. He did not provide details. 

Parubiy also said Ukraine would leave the Commonwealth of Independent States, an alliance of 11 nations that were part of the Soviet Union before it broke up in 1991. It is led by Russia, and Ukraine’s departure echoes steps taken by Georgia after of its territories broke away in 2008 with the support of Moscow. 

Russia’s storming of the military facilities, and the positioning of forces outside another base, was a tense reminder of how unresolved the situation on the ground remains in Crimea even as Russia declares its absorption of the region an established fact. Ukrainian troops largely gave way without resistance Wednesday, though tension may be building as they face an apparent choice of becoming Russian soldiers and sailors, or moving from Crimea and maintaining their allegiance to Kiev. 

Russia is also unlikely to agree to the terms of a demilitarized zone, which would require it to withdraw troops from the region while Ukraine pulls its forces out. 

Russia moved swiftly to step up its occupation of Crimea, a day after President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty annexing the peninsula. Its most significant action was the takeover of the Ukrainian navy headquarters in Sevastopol, where pro-Russia militias and Russian regular troops stormed the base and checked Ukrainians at the gate as they left toting bags of personal belongings. 

The Ukrainian rear admiral in command was taken out of the compound in a car, and Ukrainian officials charged that the Russians had taken him hostage. 

Ukrainian military spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov said the commander, Adm. Serhiy Haiduk, and some other officers and staff were hurt during a scuffle at a military meteorological unit near the town of Yevpatoria, but those were the only reported injuries. He would not specify how many military installations in Crimea remain under Ukrainian control. 

At the naval headquarters in Sevastopol, about 200 attackers rammed through the gate of the office complex in a truck and raised the tricolor Russian flag. It was difficult to identify the attackers, but they were well-organized and carried out the takeover without incident. After it was over, men wearing unmarked uniforms and holding automatic weapons guarded the gate. 

Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov gave Crimean authorities three hours to release Haiduk and stop harassing the Ukrainian military. If the admiral is not released, he said in a statement on his Web site, Ukraine will take “appropriate measures.” The deadline passed without any apparent action. 

In another sign of shifting control, Ukrainian Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh was refused entry to Crimea when he tried to visit the region Wednesday. 

Referring to the reports of attacks on Ukrainian military personnel in Crimea, Vice President Biden warned Wednesday, “As long as Russia continues on this dark path, they will face increasing political and economic isolation.” 

Speaking in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, Biden said the United States would respond to any Russian aggression against its NATO allies. Standing with the presidents of Lithuania and Latvia, Biden said President Obama plans to seek commitments from allies to ensure that NATO can safeguard its collective security. 

Scrambling for response 

In Moscow, Russian authorities began issuing passports to residents of Crimea on Wednesday, said Konstantin Romodanovsky, head of the Federal Migration Service in Russia. He said Crimeans had become Russian citizens Tuesday. 

The Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, meanwhile, began publishing in Crimea with an initial print run of 5,000 copies. 

For its part, the Ukrainian government in Kiev approved a plan on procedures to evacuate Crimeans who want to move to the mainland. 

Ukraine, unwilling to fire shots that would provoke an even greater show of Russian force, has been left scrambling for a response. The Ukrainian military, with about 130,000 troops, few of them considered combat-ready, is far smaller than Russia’s 845,000-member armed forces. 

Military analysts say Ukraine has enough tanks to inflict some damage but not to overpower Russia. Last week, Ukrainian officials issued a call for volunteers to join a national guard, an attempt to harness the fighting spirit that emerged among demonstrators in Kiev who forced the ouster of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych last month. 

But that national guard force — expected to number about 40,000 eventually — would operate under the Interior Ministry, helping to keep order and protect power plants and other important facilities. 

‘It’s a world drama’ 

In Kiev on Wednesday, Ukrainians were discussing ways to get more help from Kiev’s friends in the West. There was little bravado about taking on Russia by themselves. 

“It’s not just Ukraine’s drama,” said Yuriy Shcherbak, a former Ukrainian ambassador to the United States. “It’s a world drama.” 

Vasyl Filipchuk, a former Ukrainian diplomat who is now a political analyst, said the United Nations should suspend Russia from membership in the Security Council to demonstrate that the world is serious about punishing it for annexing Crimea. 

“Russia thinks Ukraine is weak,” Filipchuk said. “Russia thinks the world is weak and frightened.” 

Neither Europe nor the United States has produced the kind of sanctions that would give Russia serious pause about widening its incursion into Ukraine, he said. The U.S. sanctions, he said, would do little more than keep a few of Putin’s friends from going to Miami Beach. 

Ukraine hopes to sign a partnership agreement Friday with the European Union — the very agreement that Yanukovych refused to sign, setting off the protests that eventually toppled him. 

Sergei Naryshkin, speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, said in Moscow that legislation ratifying the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol could be submitted Wednesday and perhaps given a final vote Thursday. 

He described the annexation in grand terms, calling it a new stage in world history and making an oblique reference to Russia’s staring down malevolent ­forces unleashed by the West. “This is a turning point in the confrontation between good and evil,” he said.